In brief: U of C mulling new emergency room

An additional emergency department is one of the uses being considered by University of Chicago Medicine officials for the ground level of an eight-story parking structure to be built on the Hyde Park campus. The 1,800-car facility is intended to serve the Center for Care and Discovery, the $700 million hospital that opened in February. Another emergency room, in addition to U of C's adult and pediatric ERs, is “a strong consideration,” Dr. Kenneth Polonsky, the university's executive vice president for medical affairs, told DNAInfo.com last week as he revealed designs for the garage, which is already under construction. In a separate statement, the medical center said it has no “specific plans” for the space. U of C applied in November to issue up to $75 million in bonds to build the parking structure.

Merge wins round in patent case

A U.S. District Court judge in Winston-Salem, N.C., has sided with Michael Ferro's Merge Healthcare Inc., denying a motion for a preliminary judgment made in a patent infringement case filed last year by Heart Imaging Technologies LLC. The complaint targeted two Merge products: iConnect Access, which allows medical images to be viewed in a browser, and Merge Honeycomb, a cloud-based, file-sharing program. Merge, whose largest shareholder is Mr. Ferro, denied any infringement. In a 42-page opinion issued Aug. 14, Judge James Beaty Jr. ruled that Durham, N.C.-based Heart Imaging did not establish a likelihood of success, a requirement for issuing a preliminary injunction barring Merge from selling the products. Hiram Perez, vice president of sales and marketing for Heart Imaging, declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Merge declined to comment.

Night shift returns to Oak Forest clinic

The overnight shift at Oak Forest Health Center has been restored since its suspension five months ago. When the Cook County Health & Hospitals System converted the south suburban hospital into a clinic in 2011, the system agreed to continue to operate a 24-hour clinic on the site. In April, service was suspended from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. after three physicians left the system. Yesterday, system CEO Dr. Ramanathan Raju said Cook County Health shifted physicians to cover the overnight shift at Oak Forest and is in the process of hiring seven new physicians. He added that nearly one-third of applicants for the county's new Medicaid program, CountyCare,are from the south suburbs, making bolstering services at the clinic even more important.